The phrase ‘once a St Mary’s girl, always a St Mary’s girl’ has never been more pertinent. These intangible connections bind us through space and time; so, although the school shut to students in March, apart from the children of key workers, our community spirit continued to flourish. Our bonds - already strong - were remarkably and movingly, strengthened.
One of this year’s Mary Ward values, ‘valuing friendship’, has shone through, with the girls continuing to strengthen the lifelong friendships they have made here and to value the friendship and solidarity of their teachers and the support and administrative staff.
Looking back to earlier in the year, the school had a number of exciting developments and successes. At the start of the academic year we were thrilled to make it into the finals of the Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2019 in the 'Independent Boarding School of the Year' category, reflecting the excellence of our boarding provision at Mary Ward House.
This followed on from our accreditation as a ‘High Performance Learning (HPL) World Class School’ at the end of Summer Term 2019. The school met demanding standards to complete HPL’s rigorous two-year World Class School Award scheme.
In the Autumn Term, St Mary's School was awarded the British Council's Intermediate International School Award. The Intermediate Award is awarded to schools who: "have made links with other schools overseas and have worked on collaborative projects, are beginning to raise awareness of global issues among students and want to share educational practice with partners overseas."
St Mary's has made connections with two Danish schools, a school in Oulu, Finland, as well as La Fondazione Universitaria San Pellegrino school in Italy. At our Junior School we have been collaborating with a school in Madrid. We are continuing to develop our international collaboration, and we will soon be applying for full accreditation.
In addition, we have started talks with our whole community to see how we can do more to support the ethos of the Black Lives Matter movement. Our pledge is to work with students to build on the actions we have already taken, and to work together to help make sure George Floyd’s death will not have been in vain. As a Headmistress I was proud to receive passionate emails from students, staff and alumnae on this issue, testament that the St Mary’s girl spirit is alive and well!
I hope you enjoy this virtual copy of Magnolian – a first in our 120-year history and take time to look at the work of our Senior School and Sixth Form scholars in the scholars' showcase, as well as our prize giving films for Junior School and Senior School.
Thank you for your continued support.
Charlotte Avery
Headmistress